Crystal River current., 1887-03-26
Genius Not Hereditary,

hO say IilG, RCiluo Is NOV lCECulJdfyy
has grown almost proverbial, and OBJ
servation and experience denote that
it rests on a basis of truth. OF liter.
ary genius it seems particularly true,
since authors OF note very rarely have
sons who distinguish themselves in the
field OF letters. or ever pursue letters
in any form. The prospect of COM
pensation is so small that, in this age
ofluxury, with the great need ofmoney,
young men have reason to be deferred
from embracing the inky profession.
But those who have q strong temper.
amental bias toward calling are apt
to embrace it without regard to its
probable or possible rewards. The
fact must be that, if passion for lit
erature is felt by one member of O
family, it is not likely to affect any
other member. The writing habit may
be SO unnatural to humanity at large
that the contraction OF 1t is entirely
exceptional. Gifted authors write,
they are prone to say, because they
cannot help it. Perhaps, then, litera-
ture is compulsory trade, independ-
ent OF the will as it is OF the recon-
pense. There are certainly very few,
if any, visible inducements to embrace
it.
Cursory consideration of American
authors, says the Chicago Times, will
sustain this position. Ralph Waldo
Emerson had one son, besides two
daughters, and he is a. physician,
though not eminent, and without any
leaning 20 letters beyond what man
OF culture would necessarily have. 1t
is said that he has no sympathy with
tho ,,1,iIoCrrI1y ,,l ~,
ideas OF his father, and has often con-
fessed his inability to understand his
works. His mind is of different cast,
his tendencies are in another direction.
He is devoted to his fathers memory,
but not to his method OF transcend
entail thinking.
Richard Henry Dana, one of our
earliest poets and essayists, who lived
to be past ninety, left a son, albeit
lawyer, wrote one book. "Two Years
Before the Mast" that has grown fa-
nous as an actual record of sailors
experiences. 1t is still widely read,
though it is more than half century
since, on account OF an ocular disor-
der, he made the voyage described
from Boston to California, a region
almost unknown in 1884. He, too,
is dead now; but the name, Richard
Henry Dana, continues, being borne
by his son, also a lawyer, who mar
ried one of Longtellow's daughters,
and by his grandson, a product OF
that marriage.
George Bancroft, the venerable his
torian, is generally regarded as child
less, but he has two daughters and
son, who is decorator and an artistic
house-furnisher in Boston, with much
local reputation in his speciality,
though he has not, and never had, the
slightest leaning to authorship.
John Lathrop Motley is said to
have been very anxious for son who
should be renowned in letters, but his
wish was never gratified. His daugh-
ters are more interested in society
than in books, though they are highly
cultivated and accomplished.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, lately re-
turned from his greatly-honored
journey abroad, will have no success
sor to his authorical renown. His
son, named after him, is a conspicu-
GUS barrister, and at present on the
bench in Boston. He went to the war
at the head of company in Mas
sachusetts regiment, and his father
wrote a very entertaining article in
the Atlantic. "My Search after the
Captain" 1t gave, as remember,
an account of how he had gone to the
front to look after his boy, who had
been reported seriously if not mortal
ly wounded. and encountered him
sound and well, with the greeting,
"How are you dad?"
James Russell Lowell, who is
thought to have been largely instru-
m IN ir1V hn Dv,% 4
to receive his frie nd Holmes with cor
dial, generous hospitality, had a son
years ago, but he died, l believe in
Italy, when little more than an infant.
His only other child, daughter, is the
wife of young Burnett, son of the pro-
prietor of Burnett's cocoaine. The
former owns the celebrated Deerfoot
farm in Massachusetts, and is reputed
to be q very pleasant, interesting,
high-minded fellow. 1t may seem
somewhat incongruous at first that
the daughter of Lowell, who is as dis
tlnguished in lineage as any citizen oi
the republic, should wed man known
mainly in connection with a hair re.
storative. But this is only a seeming,
and Is beside q narrow, snobbish view
to hold in an enlightened democracy
like ours.
Edward R. Whipple had a son in
whom he took great pride and oi
whom he had ardent hopes while the
boy was small. But before arriving
at his majority the youth became
dissipated and soon sank into con-
dition of q sot, from which all the
efforts OF his father could not reclaim
him. One of Whipple's deepest, be-
cause unexpressed, SORROWS was on
account of his unworthy and imtem-
Perate son, whose birth the bitterly.
disappointed and mortified auther
must have considered under the cir.
cumstances positively calamitous.
. Richard Grant White had two sons,
one Of them a prominent architect,
but neither Of them has shown anv
predilection for letters.
George William Curtis, believe
has . sop, though never heard OF his